Thursday, May 29, 2008

A Meritorious Service Award, to be precise. And I got it! :D And the best part is the $500 bonus that comes with it! Okay, maybe the recognition is the best part, but the $500 doesn't hurt. LOL

I'm just glad to be in a job that I love and I actually get credit for working my ass off. Last week was sooooo hard because I had to write up all the performance evaluations. July will be hard as well because that's when I have to go over them with my staff, and, well, everyone's went down from last year. In my defense, they were a bit inflated last year. So, between last week and this crazy week, I needed some good news. I'm currently doing my job, part of the job for someone on vacation, and I'm, as of today, taking over the work of one of my employees who is leaving to be a SAHM. Talk about a motivator to find a replacement super-quick!

Thursday, May 08, 2008

I was about to post about my follow up eye doctor appointment when I realized that I hadn't posted about the first appointment.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to the opthalmologist (I probably misspelled that). When I went to the optometrist in March, she saw an area that she found "somewhat concerning" and debated whether or not to send me to the opthalmologist. She finally decided that I had good insurance and it was worth the peace of mind to go ahead and refer me.

So, since she was borderline on whether or not to even send me, I figured it would be an "in and out" appointment and scoffed at the recorded reminder message that said that many appointments can take up to 2 hours. It better not take 2 hours.

So, I got there, checked in and waited. Impatiently (since, of course, I was going home early, right?). Finally, I got called back to the room, they did the usual stuff, dilated my eyes, and I waited. And waited. And finally the fellow came in and looked at my eyes. He explained that I had a couple of spots that were very concerning and that the sometimes did a laser treatment to help such things. Uh-huh. I'm thinking of this as an eventuality - in a few years, I might need it.

Then the doctor comes in and looks at my eyes.

Any conversation that starts, "In most cases, I would recommend watching areas where the retina is thinning....." cannot be good. There's always a "but" coming, and this time was no exception, "but in your case, it has not only thinned, but there is actually a small hole. Even this would not be so concerning except for the fact that you have fluid building up behind the holes." Apparently, this puts me at higher risk for retinal detachment or tears. Yippy. And he recommended the laser treatment right away. Like, that afternoon. So much for "in and out."

I had a laser retinopexy done that very afternoon. That sucked. Apparently my eyes have a mind of their own, so whenever the laser would go off, my eyes would flinch and move. Which made this a super-tedious process for my doctor and a super-long process for me. He was nice enough to claim that it was because I am young and have good reflexes and good hearing, so I was hearing when it was about to go off and blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., etc. And, I am no longer interested in Lasik because I've decided that laser beams and my eyes do not mesh well together.

I have yet to get the bill which I am very curious about. My insurance covers most of it, but I don't think my part will be cheap. I guess we'll see.

Anyway, I went back yesterday for my follow up. Apparently, my eyes look great and the retinopexy is "holding well." I go back in 6 months unless, of course, I develop symptoms of something serious before then. And he remembered me (even though he sees lots and lots of patients and he's only seen me once). I don't like being a memorable patient, but when he walked in yesterday, he said, "I'm surprised you'll smile at me after the torture I put you through last time." hahahahahahaha.....my doctor is a comedian. All I wanted to hear is that my eyes look great, and I heard that much.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

that we would be coming back from practically having the divorced filed, but it seems we have come a long, long way. He has applied for jobs nearby so that he could move back home, and we've been talking sooooo much. I realized that was what was lacking in our marriage before. I wouldn't really tell him if he was doing something that was pissing me off. I'm not sure what I was afraid of, maybe that he would leave, but having seen that I could make it on my own if I had to made me strong enough to realize that I can say what I want to him. What's the worst thing that could happen? We are making remarkable progress, and I actually think our marriage is stronger now than it has been in the past. Strange ways that things work out.

Friday, April 11, 2008

I feel like I'm trying really hard to keep up and I'm exhausted when I get home. Despite that fact though, I am really loving my job since my promotion. I am one of those people who likes to be super-busy, and my job definitely allows for that. Navigating the world of being a supervisor is a little more difficult since it's all new to me, and I went from virtually no supervisory experience to supervising 8 people and probably 9 come fall. Eeeek!

The little ones are doing good. We are now dummy free! Hooray! Last Saturday, we lost the one pacifier we had, so Boo had to go to bed without it. She was really unhappy about it, but she finally fell asleep after I told her that she had to quit crying and I would look for it (and then I retreated and played solitaire on the computer). I gave her the same story the next afternoon at naptime (after I had found the dummy and hidden it), and that night, she didn't even fight it. And she's done great since. She even got rid of it for naptimes at Grandma's house! I knew she was ready. Next big girl task: potty training. But I'm not sure she's really ready for that. She's showing zero interest, and I don't think she knows the feeling and that it means she needs to go to the bathroom yet. She'll get it down - she just turned 2 in December. Miss Priss was about 2 months shy of 3 before she got it all figured out. So, Boo's got a way to go before I get too worried about it. I am, however, looking forward to no longer changing diapers. :)

Monday, March 31, 2008

Miss Priss is always so excited about going to her friends' birthday parties until we get there. We went to another one this weekend. I thought it was going to go well - when the leader told all the kids to follow her, Miss Priss followed - I was shocked. Until, that is, she came back sobbing. I feel so bad for her. I don't know how to help her get over this anxiety. From what I can tell, she's afraid of large groups of people and of people she doesn't know - this was a large group of people that she mainly didn't know. I can't say much since that is exactly what causes me anxiety, but that's why I want to help her.

But I'm not always sure how to handle a situation myself. I finally got Miss Priss calm enough to get on one of the balance beams (that was 6 inches off the ground), and she was walking along and this other little girl got on the other end and started walking toward Miss Priss. She yelled to her mom (who was sitting and talking to another mother nearby), "Mommy, that little girl is on my balance beam!"Her mom yelled back, "Well, was she there first?""Yeah, but I want to be on this one." Then she glared at Miss Priss. I didn't know a 4 year old could put that much venom in her stare."Well, get down since she was there first."She totally didn't listen (and her mom made no move to make her listen). She came toe to toe (literally) with Miss Priss (who must have sensed that I wasn't about to let her get off the balance beam ). She started to put her arms up to push Miss Priss off (which was not about to happen - I would have pushed that her off first - okay, maybe not, but I would have wanted to), and her Mom came up, grabbed her by the arm and told her to go sit down in time out. She laid down and had this huge temper tantrum (which her mom ignored and went back to talking), but Miss Priss and I continued down the balance beam. I'm not about to tell someone how to parent their child, but their child isn't going to get away with trying to push my child around.

This is why I'm better with blogs than I am with people IRL. Miss Priss' classmates' parents are a group that is especially tough for me. It's one of the only places where I feel like there's this - I don't know what to call it - animosity almost? - between SAHMs and working mothers. Around her classmates' parents, for the most part, I feel like they look down on me for being a working mother which, #1 irritates me to no end (hello?! Can't we all just respect each other's choices for our respective families?) and #2 makes me so uncomfortable and anxious to prove that my child is as happy and well-adjusted as any of them. That probably explains why it makes me so crazy when Miss Priss starts crying at these parties, and my own anxiety probably doesn't help her. I don't want to teach her to avoid situations that make her nervous because I know from experience that she can't do that all her life, but this is one instance where I really don't think I'm the best role model for her.